Hi, my name is Ele. I am 62 years old. I live in Canada with my husband. My children are married and I have one grandson of 2 years old.

I was diagnosed with Fibro 8 years ago. I was working full time 15 years until November 2005. My pain for Fibro was terrible. No one saw the pain at the office, so of course, I was making it up. My rheumatologist ordered me to work only 3 days a week from originally 5 days a week. I had lot's of trouble with human resources. But they said o.k. Since those day's, I am on Lyrica. It has saved my life but I have the munchies at night and water retention to fill a pool. I am very discouraged but I keep on going. Then I developed degenerative disc disease in my upper and lower back, my hands and my neck. I tried Tylenol, as I am allergic to anything with aspirin. My doctor put me on oxycodone. It works great but it's short lived. Since all this has happened, I have become depressed, so I am on Effexor XR 150 mg. It does help

however I have been told that Cymbalist is better. I won't change now, but I will keep it in my mind.

Now it seem's my osteoarthritis is in my knee's big time. I need full knee replacement in both knee's. Surgery for the left knee, minimum wait 4-6 months, which is not terrible. However, the pain and disability gets worse as the day's go on. My doctor wants me to lose at least 20-30 pounds before the surgery, as it will be easier for me in all way's. So I am joining weight watcher's. I have 55 lbs. to lose altogether.

So folks, I do understand what each and everyone of you are going through, with family, employee's. It's hard to explain why you look so good and yet your falling apart. If they don't believe you, "SO WHAT",

you know in your heart of hearts your a good person, and life has given you a bum steer. Look around you, when I see people in wheelchair's or bedridden because of becoming paraplegic, or cancer, I will take back my Fibro, Osteo and degenerative disc disease and all the pills anytime.

I am a good listener, so if you want to let lose because of your health, or people who don't understand,I can't help you but I can listen and write back.

Thank's for putting up with me and looking forward to hearing from you all. Great day to all, Ele

Welcome Ele,I am sort of a newbie her I think about a month and half this is a great place. I check in everyday to see how things are going and som times i learn somthing new. Somtimes i log on to complain. its just a great place.Lee Ann

Hi Ele and welcome to the family. I like to call this great bunch of people my Fingertip family. We are always here for each other during good and bad times. You have a great attitude and that goes a long ways with fibro.

Read as much as you can especially the fibro 101 thread, second on first page, it contains a lot of good info.

We all try different things to get relief from this DD. Some have had great results with malic acid/ magnesium combo. I can't take it but I'm happy for those that can. We use moist heat in about any form we can. Some make their own rice bags out of long tube socks that you can heat in the microwave.

I have had three doctors tell me to try cymbalta so I guess when I get a chance I will give it a try. Things are kinda hectic right now to start a new med.

I try to get by with 4000 mg of tylenol a day, moist heat and TENS unit if it's a bad day. I also use lidoderm patches for osteoathritis in my hands. If you want to know more about them let me know.

Many of us are getting to that age where we are also fighting wear and tear on our bodies along with fibro. I'm sorry about the knee replacements.

Hi, Ele, and welcome! I see that Marlee filled you in on the Fibro 101 thread. There are some good stretching exercises that will help with the stiffness and they are done sitting down. That will help your knees. Walking is wonderful for fibro but you need to get those knees back in shape first but the stretching exercises will help.

I am one that takes the malic acid/magnesium supplements. I started them last December and they have helped me a lot. There is a link in the Fibro 101 thread all about it. Read it and see what you think! Could help you some with pain and fatigue.

I'm so glad that you found us and decided to join in. You have come to a great spot. We have lots of wonderful people here that love to help one another to live a full and enjoyable life with fibro. And, as a bonus, we all really do care about one another! So, read and ask questions. We are here to help. Hope to hear more from you soon.

Like Marlee said, plenty of us are getting into the 50's and 60's and our bodies are aging on top of the fibro. I have moderate arthritis in my neck but know it can become severe the older I get.

Yes, and I'm with you, there are people worse off than us and I have had to remind myself of that. A-w-w-w, a 2 year old grandson- aren't they fun?! I have two granddaughters now, one is 3 yrs and the other 5 mos. old. They are such a joy!

This sure can get complicated. I have been off of work since the fibro hit hard 6 mos. ago. I hope to work very parttime at some point. So I understand cutting back on hours, our bodies just cannot handle it.